


The Best Kept Secrets

by DoctNeptune95



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Poly, Background Relationships, Future Fic, Incest, M/M, Major Illness, Mokuba-Centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Sibling Incest, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-04-18 08:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14209200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctNeptune95/pseuds/DoctNeptune95
Summary: Seto and Mokuba are both keeping secrets.





	1. Running Late

The time is 2:25pm and Mokuba Kaiba is running late for a meeting. The abysmal weather has him stuck in his car some 30 minutes away from the office and he can’t help but feel like this is typical somehow. The rain is coming down in cats and dogs and he’s been having a hard time seeing the cars in front of him. Some people were speeding like crazy, but not Mokuba, no way. He values his safety. 

 

He also considered himself responsible so his first course of action was to text the woman arranging the meeting. She was a CEO from another budding corporation who put together this meeting in order to propose a collaboration of sorts. He was no stranger to this sort of meeting. They happened quite frequently, actually. Everybody wanted to work with one of the richest and most well-known corporations in Japan, it was only natural.

 

Once he’d taken care of the business side of it, he shot a couple of texts at his older brother Seto detailing the state of the road and how his record for being late was surely expanding because of it. He made a habit of updating Seto on the mundane of his day. Seto wasn’t always able to leave his room, so Mokuba wanted to help ease the boredom. Occasionally he would receive a prompt for more or a small one-liner comment, but for the most part Seto would be silent. He was a man of few words, really, but Mokuba knew he enjoyed the messages.

 

Speaking of Seto, he was actually the reason Mokuba was running late. Minutes after he’d left the KaibaCorp headquarters Seto texted him asking if he could pick up his favourite cake from the tiny yet top-notch bakery across town. It was a simple request and Mokuba was determined to personally fulfill it. The sweets were tucked safely into the backseat and he’d deliver them once the meeting was over.

 

This wasn’t the first time he’d made a stop somewhere before a meeting. If the weather had been perfect he would have made it to the meeting, but he should have known better than to trust the weatherman. The portly man who announced the forecast always had such a charm to him, as if he were trustworthy and honest. Mokuba always felt like a man like that was wasted in such an inaccurate science. At the very least he could be promoting something that would be accurate more than half the time.

 

He silently gripped the wheel and selfishly considered devoting a portion of KaibaCorp’s scientists to meteorology. It would be glorious, obviously. With their mountains of wealth acquired from the dueling industry (as well as some other industries) they could surely hire the best minds in the country and develop the most accurate technology to date! He imagined they would likely pair up with local stations in order to make a name for their forecasting technology. Never again would an honest weatherman predict incorrectly as long as he was using their technology!

 

Imagining all of this was keeping him entertained and despite his responsible nature he found the daydream distracting as all hell. Thankfully it ended abruptly as he had to slam on his breaks, nearly rear-ending the red luxury car in front of him.

 

_ Shit!  _ He’d nearly caused a pretty bad accident... not that it mattered if he totaled the car, he owned several anyway. The real problem was he was getting carried away as usual. That was just a selfish, ephemeral dream. Downright silly, too. Why would KaibaCorp need a weather department, and wasn’t the vague prediction enough? Some people didn’t even depend on the news, anyway.

 

After a moment of catching his breath he drove a little faster and reminded himself that selfish daydreaming was the cause of one too many sleepless nights. It caused a variety of other prolbems too, and he really didn’t want to add “car accident” onto that list of things.

 

_ What would Seto think? _

 

\---- 

 

30 minutes after his disastrous near-death driving experience Mokuba pulled into the parking lot of the tall, blue-grey building that housed the company he’d be meeting. The parking lot was stuffed to the brim with the cars of people who worked for the surrounding buildings. Finding a spot would be challenging, so he updated both Seto and the woman and started his quest. He needed something close enough to the building to avoid getting drenched and valet parking just didn’t do it for him. He had mild trust issues and didn’t want anyone else driving his car. 

 

When he finally found a parking space near the entrance he debated taking the cake inside. The weather was currently chilly enough to ensure it wouldn’t spoil in the car, but what if the quality deteriorated, even a little? On the other hand, was it worth trying to get it inside while the downpour was happening? Mokuba sat on it for another 10 minutes before exiting the car and leaving it behind. Overthinking was his worst enemy and he was already pretty late as it is. If he didn’t get a move on they’d reschedule it all together.

 

Seto texted back the moment he entered the building as if he had been waiting for that exact moment somehow. Mokuba suspected the guy to be a psychic, but Seto would scoff at the suggestion and call it something like chance. Mokuba knew better though.

 

The text was a simple one of course. It read “It’s raining here too.” Mokuba smiled at his phone but pocketed it soon after reading the message. Seto would frown at him texting before a meeting anyway.

 

The door leading to the meeting room was unlabeled other than the small plaque with the number 148 on it. He was instructed to come right in, they’d been expecting him, so he took a deep breath and put on his best winning smile before opening the door and facing them. 

 

\----

 

It went about as well as he expected. The woman had been quite impressed with their technological capabilities, but less impressed with Mokuba himself. Mokuba was a genius at promoting their products, making them sound as amazing as they really were, but he struggled with the way businesses conducted themself. Everything had to be restricted, practical. People couldn’t express themself as they would normally. He was always too casual, too carefree. He apologized every time he was late but never seemed to make an effort to be on time. He never held business cards with both hands even though he knew he should. He couldn’t stop himself from toying with his long, black hair even when other people in the room would stare at him. He just wasn’t suited for this job, but it didn’t matter. He had to do this for Seto.

 

He drove home as the rain started to let up and played some slow jazz to true and ease his consciousness. Even though he wasn’t perfect he knew he did a good job. The woman would contact him within the week to discuss further and Seto would see to it that the project would come to fruition. He did his part, but he still felt like he could have done it better.

 

When he arrived from the stressful meeting the rain had stopped entirely, allowing Mokuba to carry the cakes in without issue. Being as delicate as they were Mokuba knew they would be deflated. It made him feel a little bit nervous but there was no way he’d be able to pick up another batch. He internally cursed himself for not calling upon the help of one of their many employees. Seto would have been alright with it and he doubted the employee would decline a chance to get out. 

 

He greeted the blonde receptionist whom he had personally hired, and hopped into the next available elevator. Her usual smile made him feel a little more at ease, as did the empty elevator. He quickly pushed the “close door” button followed by the button for the 16th floor. 

 

Their living spaces were situated at the top floor of the KaibaCorp’s headquarters. Seto was a workaholic when he wasn’t busy dueling, and he found merit in living on location. Mokuba remembered the times when he was younger and how much he disliked having to ride the elevator every time he had to leave the building for school. The elevators were state of the art models created by KaibaCorp themself, so the trip between floors couldn’t have taken longer than a minute, yet he still despised it.

 

The memory makes him snicker as the doors opened to the floor. Mokuba never failed to notice the distinct change in colour. The floors where people worked had off-white walls whereas these were painted a deep blue. The lighting was dimmer here, giving the place a mysterious vibe. The halls were wider and the doors to their various spaces were unlabeled. After all, why would they need to indicate what was what when they knew it like the back of their hand?

 

Mokuba vaguely wonders if Seto is up and calls out “Seto?” He blinks and carries the box to the kitchen as silence greets him. He sets the box down and moments later his phone vibrates. He pulls it out of his phone and notices a text from Seto that reads “In my room.” 

 

He blushes and pockets the phone, feeling a little stupid for calling out like that. He belatedly realized doing things like that could wake him up from a nap or something! What was he thinking. He picked the container back up despite having just set it down and walked to Seto’s door. It took a bit of shifting around, but he managed a free hand and opened the door.

 

Seto Kaiba was laid in bed staring out the tinted window when Mokuba had entered. This week had been particularly bad and Seto appeared a bit rough. His hair was greasy, seeming to stick up at odd angles, his clothes were clearly in need of a change. Seto would only allow the most elite of his staff to see him like this.

 

“Ah, so you made it.” Seto’s voice was still as sharp as ever and he immediately waved Mokuba over, inviting him to bring the sweets.

 

“Yeah… sorry for the wait.” Mokuba bowed in apology and set the box on the bed, carefully opening the lid to show off the meticulously decorated cakes. 

 

“You were in a meeting.” Seto narrowed his eyes at that ridiculous apology before sitting himself up properly to indulge himself on these cakes. He paused once he’d managed it and glanced over to his little brother. “...You didn’t bring me a plate or a fork.”

 

“Ah?!” Mokuba’s eyes went wide at that and he laughed nervously. “Shit! Sorry Seto, hang on.” He hurried out the door, making it back in record time with the requested items. “Here, this should help out.”

 

“It will.” Seto replied coldly, but he took them with a small smile and Mokuba felt relieved. 

 

“Today was a disaster.” Mokuba confessed as he laid back on the large bed. His mind was already starting to drift and he was desperately trying to prevent it from going too far. “I was so late for that meeting, but I think it went well. She said she’ll be calling us this week!” He tried to sound a bit enthusiastic, but it seemed forced to him. 

 

Seto didn’t seem to notice or care that it was fake. He simply took a bite of the tiramisu and stared out the window. Mokuba took the moment to admire how even in his worst state he still looked impressive. His piercing gaze was intense and he seemed angry about something, but Mokuba knew he wasn’t, it was just his usual mask. His light blue pajama top fit him perfectly considering they were made for him specifically. 

 

Laying beside him made Mokuba feel small and insignificant. Seto belonged in this room, Mokuba did not. Despite being flesh and blood he felt leagues away from his brother in every way. He was legally an adult now but he still felt dwarfed by his ever-confident older brother. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face, feeling like his mind was probably running away from him yet again.

 

“Thank you.” Seto said, shaking Mokuba out of his thoughts. 

 

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Mokuba smiled and sat back up, hoping it would make him feel a little taller. The sun was actually starting to set and he wondered where the time had gone. 

 

“Try this.” Seto offered him a spoon full of tiramisu and his heart stopped for a moment. 

 

“...Sure, I guess.” Mokuba internally hit himself for the unenthusiastic response, but took the spoon and ate it anyway. The flavour was amazing and the texture was still perfect despite the fact that it had waited so long to be eaten. “Oh wow, no wonder you always order from them.” 

 

Seto seemed to take pride in that and nodded. “I only order from the best places in town.” He stated snobbishly. He knew that he was the best so he deserved the best, simple as that.

 

“I never doubted that.” Mokuba replied sarcastically, watching his brother deflate some and feeling only slightly guilty. “I think I’m stealing that chocolate cake…”

 

Seto took that as a cue to plate it for him and hand it over. The small chocolate cake was elegantly decorated with chocolate work that had melted slightly in transit, but otherwise looked as good as it did when it was made some hours ago.

 

“Thaaank you!” Mokuba grinned and dug in immediately, getting frosting all over his face but quickly wiping it off with his thumb and eating it as well. He felt like a slob but Seto seemed disinterested in him today as he was yet again staring out the window. A mix of disappointment and relief seemed to swirl in his stomach and he couldn’t help but wish Seto would indulge him a bit more. Maybe it was needy, no, it was definitely needy, but he craved Seto’s attention.

 

_ Listen to yourself. _ Mokuba scolded himself internally and took another bite of the cake.  _ Seto’s tired. He’s clearly been drifting in and out of sleep and it seems like he hasn’t showered in at least 3 days. Why don’t you just enjoy the fact that he lets you eat with him? _

 

I’ll do that, thought Mokuba to himself. I’ll be quiet and enjoy being in his company. But moments after he took a vow of silence he broke it without really thinking about it. “Maybe you should take a shower.” 

 

Seto stopped chewing and he immediately felt horrified. Had he just seriously insulted his big brother’s hygiene?! In an attempt to stop himself from saying any more he shoved a few spoonfuls of cake into his mouth and hoped for the best.

 

“Fine.” Seto said after a moment. He set down the plate he’d been holding and slowly started to lift himself out of bed. Mokuba swore he could hear all of his bones creaking as he made the effort, but he boiled it down to his overactive imagination.

 

“Do you need help?” Mokuba frowned and watched as he seemed to struggle with getting to his feet.

 

“I’m fine.” Seto replied coolly as he finally managed it, leaning on the nightstand for support. 

 

“Okay… don’t worry, you don’t stink yet. I just thought it might help.” Mokuba belatedly tried to make up for his foot-in-mouth earlier, but Seto wasn’t having it. He simply waved it off and left the room, heading to his private bathroom. Mokuba felt his appetite dwindle at that and he placed the cake back on the bed gently before heading to his own bathroom. A nice hot shower would help. He’d shower, get something for dinner, and go to bed early. Surely that would help put his mind at ease. 

 

He executed his plan flawlessly and turned in for the night, swaddling himself in his various blankets. Right when he thought he’d fallen asleep his phone went off and he checked it. Seto had sent him a text that simply said “do better tomorrow” and he felt like he couldn’t agree more.  

  
  



	2. Sleeping In

The next morning Mokuba knew he was doomed, but what else was new. Feeling exhausted from the previous day he had hit the snooze button at least eight times times before waking up with a start and realizing he was getting a hopelessly late start to the day.

 

He brushed his teeth too quickly to actually clean them and all but stumbled into his clothes, causing them to wrinkle weirdly. He could straighten them out later, he thought. Catching up to the rest of the world was far more important than wrinkled pants.

 

His stomach roared at him but breakfast would have to wait. He was painfully aware of how late he was to the meeting he agreed to attend in Seto’s place. It wasn’t an overly important one, just a follow up, but it was a promise to his brother. One that he almost definitely broke by sleeping in.

 

Just as he started to think about what a shitty brother he was he exited his room and instantly froze. A pair of icy blue eyes were staring him down from across the room.

 

Shit, Seto.

 

Mokuba was both overjoyed and confused at once. Seto was up and walking around, wearing one of his nice white dueling jackets that everyone must associate with him by now. If he wasn’t already rich he could have made a killing branding his own style and turning heads in the fashion world. At any rate, seeing him standing felt like a breath of fresh air. He was able to walk today, and that made him feel over the moon.

 

But why was he up? He looked dressed enough to justify leaving the room, but Mokuba had arranged to take care of everything today. Did somebody call him?

 

“The meeting ended half an hour ago. It’s 11:45 am, Mokuba.” Seto stared at him with a cold and unwavering expression. His voice was like a knife making a clean cut through Mokuba’s thoughts.

 

Mokuba stuttered out a few failed words before a yawn escaped him against his will and he felt defeat take over. “...Sorry Seto…” So much for doing better tomorrow. Maybe he had to keep going until he hit rock bottom before he could ‘do better.’

 

An uncomfortable silence drew over as neither of them spoke. Seto stared at Mokuba and Mokuba stared at his feet. A few minutes passed before Mokuba got the courage to look up again. Their eyes met and Seto’s expression didn’t soften, but he finally blinked and looked away.

 

“I’ll be handling the rest of the work today. Occupy yourself with something other than sleeping.” His words had quite a bite to them and Mokuba felt so guilty.

 

“Okay… if you say so…” he paused before going on. “Does that mean you’re feeling better today?” He perked up some at his own words, hopeful. Maybe he could forget how terrible the morning was if he could hear a confirmation from Seto.

 

For the first time during that interaction Mokuba seemed to elicit some sort of reaction out of his older brother. Seto’s expression looked less harsh somehow and after a moment of silence his eyes were back on Mokuba.

 

“...For now.” Seto finally replied. It was cautious, as if he didn’t want to jinx himself by saying yes. He normally wasn’t known to be cautious, but he’d changed over the years.

 

“That’s good.” Mokuba smiled at him, sincere and adoring. Hearing that Seto was feeling better, even for a day, had him forgetting the scolding already.

 

Seto strode over to him and placed a hand on his head, fixing some of his wild bed head. He seemed intent on fixing it, using his long fingers as a sort of comb. Mokuba was silent the whole time, not wanting to break the silence and make it weird. It reminded him of when they were younger. Seto had taken such good care of him back then, it was easy to think back on those days fondly.

 

\---

 

Once Mokuba finally tidied himself up enough to pass as presentable he made his way to the elevator. He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d do today, but he’d definitely figure it out on the way.

 

The moment Mokuba reached the elevator his phone went off. The jingle was familiar, he knew exactly who it was. Slipping it out of his pocket he scanned the message. It was from Yugi Muto, somebody he rarely heard these days. Yugi was a busy guy and their friendship stemmed from being in the same circles. Seto wasn’t a big fan of Yugi either, which didn’t really help.

 

Unlocking his phone he responded to Yugi’s casual greeting of “How are you doing?” with an equally casual “Good, how about you?” Not expecting an immediate response (Yugi was an easily distracted type,) he boarded the elevator and dropped himself off on the 5th floor. Most people on this floor worked in marketing. He spent a lot of time on this floor because it housed the company’s creative geniuses!

 

They also had a tendency to smuggle alcohol into the building, but that was typically indulged in on Sunday nights. Something about pre-monday prep, which he didn’t really understand but found amusing anyway.

 

He made his way through the offices and searched for one he could disturb without causing much of an issue and eventually found his target in a group of slack-offs. He cracked the door open just enough to peek inside and saw that the members of this division had hit a wall in their brainstorming. They seem to have collectively decided the best way to get past it was to have a dancing contest.

 

Mokuba had to hold in his laughter when he saw the head of the division trying (and failing) to improvise a creative dance to Dua Lipa’s hit song “New Rules.” Something about the way the guy shook his ass was extremely funny, probably because he was trying to be sexy and achieving the opposite.

 

A blonde intern near the door had noticed Mokuba first and the look on her face was absolutely priceless. She looked beyond mortified, probably because she had tied someone’s necktie around her head like a sweatband. She started to mutter an excuse but was shushed by Mokuba putting a finger to his own lips, shushing her. She seemed to reluctantly accept that he wasn’t here to ruin the fun, at least.

 

His voyeurism went unnoticed for another three songs before he finally blew his cover from laughing too hard. That old crazy frog song that never failed to make him laugh and somebody trying to dance to it was the icing on the cake.

 

The music was paused and half of the workers frozen in fear, the other half just looked bored because they knew Mokuba wasn’t going to do anything.

 

“S-Sorry…” Mokuba wiped the tears from his eyes and finally stepped inside, shutting the door with a quiet click.

 

About five people responded to him at the same time. One distinct voice had asked “what are you doing up here!?” while another asked if he wanted to dance.

 

Mokuba waved them off and leaned against the door. “Oh, I was just coming by to check out your work. ...But I had a lot of fun watching this, too.”

 

Some of the people in the room blushed as embarrassment caught up. A girl with brown hair coughed in the awkward silence. Moments later the people in the room started to scatter and get back to work. The ones who knew Mokuba wasn’t going to take action also knew better than to continue the party and the ones who didn’t were simply scared back to their stations.

 

Instead of fleeing like the others the head of the division confidently approached Mokuba, clapping a hand on his shoulder. He had been working for KaibaCorp for a few years now and knew Mokuba fairly well.

 

“Hey kid, how’s business going?” The man grinned. He was of average height and a stocky build. His brown hair was almost definitely dyed and his smile was contagious. He reminded Mokuba of his ideal trustworthy weatherman. If he ever managed to swing the “turn KaibaCorp into a meteorology heaven” fantasy he would ask this to be their weatherman, hands down.

 

“Oh, good. When isn’t it?” Mokuba smiled and pat the man on the shoulder. He smelled of alcohol and Mokuba wondered if he had been misinformed about Sundays.

 

“Ahh, great.” He took another sip from his mug, which Mokuba noticed was a spiked hot-chocolate of sorts. “We were just working on the marketing for Mr.Seto’s new line of VR devices.”

 

“What?” Mokuba suddenly stiffened up a bit. The VR device… which one? Seto had developed a few VR devices to enhance the dueling experience… but he hadn’t heard of any new ones. Those devices were all old news to him and he felt more than a little lost.

 

The division head blinked at him stupidly. “You know…” He seemed hesitant to elaborate, his cheeks flushing.

 

“I don’t know.” Mokuba definitely felt stupid, but he really didn’t know. His mind was already starting to fill in the gaps and he didn’t like it. “Please tell me about it.” His imagination was wild and needed to be stopped before it could think of something ridiculous.

 

“Huh.” The man rubbed his neck, taking pity on the young CEO. “Maybe he wanted this to be a secret. I dunno why he would, sir.” He threw a bit of formality on his words before guiding Mokuba to his desk. “Let me show you the information we were sent.”

 

Mokuba nodded and sat in the chair. The man leaned over and sifted through a few files before producing what looked like… information on a prototype? He read through the text silently. Apparently Seto had been working on a new VR device crafted specifically for integrating consciousness into a virtual world. It was almost like lucid dreaming but assisted by a machine and using the conscious brain rather than the unconscious one.

 

“I don’t understand. It’s not done…” Mokuba pushed away from the screen and glanced up at the man. “How are you working on marketing for a product that doesn’t exist yet?”

 

“Well, y’see… he said something about wanting to pitch this to investors.” The man downed the rest of his hot-chocolate before going on. “Sounds crazy that a guy like him needs even more money… but I guess he does. Maybe because this doesn’t have anything to do with dueling.” KaibaCorp was famous for one thing, mostly, so it wasn’t an irrational conclusion.

 

Mokuba let out a sigh and glanced back at the screen. “I bet you could use this for dueling, though. Anyway, why does my brother even need to bother with investors!” He was frustrated at this point. Nothing made sense.

 

The man simply shrugged and motioned for his chair back, mumbling something about needing to get back to work.

 

Mokuba let the man go and stepped away. He gave one last glance at the screen and made a mental note to ask about that later. He felt hurt that his brother had been working on something without telling him. It’s not like he was the sort to breathe down his brother’s neck, but from what he saw on those documents the project seemed well-loved. It seemed like Seto had actually spent time on them.

 

His phone went off again and he glanced at it in a haze.

 

“Are you free? You should come meet us for lunch, this cafe has a great lunch special!” Yugi’s text was accompanied by a string of emojis and a picture of Atem and Yugi sharing what looked like a parfait.

 

“Sure!” Mokuba replied with a smiling emoji. He left the building in a hurry and got into his car, turning it on and making his way onto the road. He was already starting to forget the mysterious VR device! It was almost as if that entire interaction had been fake! Life was really good!

 

He turned up the radio and zoned out without a second thought. It was playing the latest and greatest pop music and Mokuba loved it. Driving was easy enough to do on autopilot, anyway.

 

Minutes after his mind wandered into oblivion he started to recall scraps of the dream he’d had last night. Long, slender fingers trailing down his chest, bunching up his shirt in strange places. A pair of icy blue eyes watching him from someplace he can’t see. Whispers of nothings in his ears, whispers of something he wishes he could hear. The sensation of water filling the room, cold and unforgiving. He opens his mouth and his lungs fill with liquid. It’s hot when it touches his tongue, as if it changed by a chemical reaction.

 

“Please,” he tries to say, but the words are swallowed with the water.

 

He remembers the fingers on his chest slipping away, the whispers fading. He remembers turning around and grasping at nothing but rushing water. The sound of it is louder than anything he’s ever heard and he becomes aware he can’t breathe. The water fills the room and in one swift moment everything goes silent and he sees a man in the water with him. He reaches out to the man and the moment his fingers brush the man’s shirt he wakes with a start.

 

Then he slams on his brakes.

 

An orange tabby cat had ran into the street, nearly getting flattened by the tires of Mokuba’s luxury vehicle. He immediately feels sick and his hands grip the wheel, waiting patiently for the cat to move. He’d been going on a back road in an attempt to avoid a crowded street filled with opportunities to crash… but apparently it was a futile effort.

 

The cat stares at him, eyes wide. It didn’t seem to want to move. Must be a house cat, Mokuba thinks, because what feral would just stand there? After another awkward moment he rolls his window down and shoos the cat, sighing out the tension when it safely crosses and darts into someone’s yard.

 

He doesn’t want to waste any more time and risk being late, so he simply turns the radio up a little more and tries not to kill himself (or anybody’s surely beloved pet) in a car crash.

 

\----

 

The cafe where he meets Yugi and Atem is a rundown building the locals would absolutely call a town staple. The paint is peeling off the building and the seats look outdated, but despite that it’s nearly packed. Mokuba steps inside and immediately spots Yugi and Atem by the tips of their signature hairstyle peeking out from the back corner. He lets the hostess know before he slips over and stops in front of their table.

 

Atem is busying himself with a crossword puzzle and Yugi is tapping away on his phone so neither of them notice when he arrives. Mokuba takes advantage of this and loudly announces his presence.

 

“Boo!” He grins like a cat and holds his hands up like claws.

 

Atem jumps, whipping his head up. Yugi fumbles the phone and it lands on his lap.

 

“Oh! Mokuba, you scared us.” Yugi blushes a bit and laughs, taking it in good spirit. “Sit down, sit down.” He smiles and hands Mokuba one of the laminated menus.

 

“Thanks.” Mokuba doesn’t read it yet, he simply glances between the both of them and wonders which side they want him to sit on. He knew Yugi better, but what if Atem felt like he was playing favourites?

 

Thankfully he doesn’t have to decide, Atem scoots over and gestures for him to slide into the booth. It looks kind of grossly worn out but Mokuba doesn’t care all that much. All he can imagine is how much Seto would probably hate it.

 

“I couldn’t resist.” Mokuba smiles as he takes a seat and glances over at Atem. It’s still weird seeing him as a separate person sometimes. He looks so much like Yugi but at the same time so different. There’s the obvious things, like the stark contrast in their skin colours or how his facial features are clearly not Japanese, but there’s also the subtle things. The way he sits like a pharoah, proud and confident. The way he does his makeup slightly different, or the way his style was a little less gothic than Yugi’s. Maybe it’s the fact that he prefers gold over silver. Either way it’s fascinating and he has to try not to stare.

 

He fails horribly and Atem grins. “Enjoying yourself?” He teases in that proud voice he always uses in his duels.

 

Mokuba blushes and hides himself in the menu. It’s not very big and doesn’t really work as a cover, but he makes due. “Sorry! I just haven’t seen you guys in forever…” it’s a dodge, but what else was he supposed to say? He wasn’t really the type to flirt back.

 

“The life of a professional duelist is a busy one, that’s certain.” Atem remarks proudly, jotting down a guess on the crossword as he speaks.

 

“So is the life of a card shop owner! Especially one endorsed by Atem.” Yugi smiles at Atem and sips his soda. They catch each other’s eyes and Mokuba can almost feel the weird, romantic energy coming off of them. He tries not to be jealous and fails horribly at that too.

 

At this point Mokuba realizes they’ve already eaten and wonders why they’ve invited him. Didn’t they have better things to do? If their lives really were that busy why would they bother with him? He turns these thoughts over in his head and doesn’t really come to any answer that isn’t obvious. Yugi must be pretty determined to go out of his way to invite him places… or was it a whim? Crap, now he was stuck in a loop again!

 

He must’ve been quiet a little too long because Yugi seemed concerned all of a sudden.

 

“Hey Mokuba, is everything alright?” He blinks and leans forward sympathetically, searching his eyes.

 

“Oh, uh, yeah. It’s just been busy at KaibaCorp…” he yawns without thinking about it. “I um…” He searches for something entertaining to say. “...I totally have an oversleeping problem! Haha!” He laughs nervously and internally feels like he walked onto a rake.

 

Atem and Yugi’s eyes meet a moment before Yugi laughs too.

 

“I can tell! You’re yawning at lunch. I think what you need is a good cup of coffee--” Yugi places his finger over the mocha-esque coffee option. “Get this, it’s definitely the best caffeine option unless you prefer tea.”

 

“Coffee’s fine.” Mokuba was long used to drinking coffee at work, not that he had a preference. “I’ll get it.”

 

Yugi nodded enthusiastically, looking proud of himself for making a good suggestion. “And um, I don’t know exactly what you like, but the eggplant sandwiches are amazing!”

 

He isn’t really the biggest fan of eggplant, but at this point Mokuba would feel bad if he wiped that smile off of Yugi’s face. “Sure, I’ll try it. I think I’ll also get the soup…”

 

Atem frowned at that for some reason, but Mokuba didn’t really care. He waved over a nearby waitress and repeated the order to her. She was gone moments after she came and Mokuba was left wondering if she was a lunch-rush specialist or something.

 

“Aha! Pot of greed!” Atem exclaimed suddenly, though not as loudly as most might. He was scribbling something into the crossword puzzle furiously and Yugi snickered.

 

“Is that… a duel monsters themed activity book…?” Mokuba stared in disbelief.

 

“Of course it is.” Said Yugi at the exact same time Atem said “It only has crossword puzzles.” Apparently a little offended Mokuba was branding it an ‘activity book.’

 

“I can’t believe they have those.” Mokuba tried to imagine Seto working on one of those puzzles. His hands probably weren’t up to the task most days, but if it were a digital crossword… he could just say the words and have them appear on screen! There must be one like that by now, probably. He made a mental note to look into it later.

 

“Oh, he has a whole collection.” Yugi gestured at Atem. “He is the king of games, after all! We have such a huge collection at home now, you’ve seen it.”

 

Mokuba could remember seeing the shelves packed to the brim with games of all kinds in Yugi and Atem’s shared bedroom. A couple of years ago he went over there and played apples to apples with them and a few other professional duelists. It was… interesting.

 

“Yeah, I get it. But does he ever take a break?” Mokuba grinned.

 

“A true king would not sleep until his work was finished.” Atem stated. “My work is never finished.” He nodded at his own words of wisdom.

 

“This guy should write a book, huh?” Yugi leaned over and mock-whispered.

 

“Oh, totally. Best seller, I can see it already.” Mokuba snickered.

 

Atem let out a small sigh but seemed amused as well. Before he was able to think of some smart remark the waitress delivered another round of refills for the pro-duelists and a delicious looking sandwich for the young CEO.

 

“Oh, this smells good.” Mokuba smiled and mouthed a thank you to the waitress. She in turn winked at him and he felt a bit bad for her. Definitely barking up the wrong tree if that was a flirty wink. Luckily the cafe was packed and she didn't have much time to think on it.

 

“It looks good too!” Yugi smiled brightly and watched him take the first bite.

 

It took everything in Mokuba not to talk with his mouth full. What would Seto think? What would these guys think? Okay, they probably wouldn't care, but he was supposed to be a CEO not a slob.

 

“I’m surprised I like it… eggplant is hit or miss, you know?” The flavour wasn’t overpoweringly eggplant which was nice. It had some kind of bitter green in it offsetting the flavour.

 

“Not really, but I'm bias.” Yugi snickered, rolling his eyes playfully.

 

Mokuba snickered too, but then rather randomly asked “By the way, where's Joey?”

 

“Oh, he has to work today. He usually gets off around five…” Yugi glanced at his watch, squinting at the numbers. It was early afternoon, but not quite five.

 

“is it... still working out with you guys?” Mokuba blinked and glanced between the two of them. He was pretty weirded out about their relationship at first, but after he got used to the concept that not everyone prefers monogamy it didn't bother him at all. Yugi and Joey had been best friends for so long… it just made sense.

 

Atem let out a short laugh. “It is, actually. I admit that I'm still getting to know him outside of dueling but I find his spirit very genuine. It's rare to find people like that.” He had a faraway look in his eyes. He already had it, bad. Mokuba felt insanely jealous yet slightly nauseous at the same time.

 

Yugi seemed to beam at the positive words from Atem. Maybe it wasn't as easy as Mokuba thought. Did they ever get jealous?

 

“So no problems?” Mokuba looked over at him with curious eyes.

 

“I think our main issue is the days when he feels like he isn't as interesting as we are.” Yugi hummed and his face shifted into a thoughtful expression. “Or as cool, I guess? We’re both famous and while he has some credits to his name, he’s faded out of popularity. Most people don’t know him like they know us. We’re living different lives, you know? Sometimes he feels like he doesn’t belong with us because he feels like we’re ‘better’ or something…”

 

Atem nodded along and began to add to this, but Mokuba had zoned out. He was too busy thinking about his own situation. He could relate to Joey, feeling like his love interest was so far away, so much better. Mokuba knew he had self-consciousness issues, but how could he not? Seto was incredible. He was a powerful man and duelist. He could chill with a stare and kill with his words. He was objectively out of Mokuba’s league, not to mention his older brother.

 

By the time he had tuned back in Yugi and Atem were silent and staring at him. Atem seemed to be considering him, while Yugi seemed to be concerned again.

 

“Are you okay?” Yugi asked after a moment of silence.

 

“I--uh, yeah. Sorry, like I said there’s just been a lot going on…” Mokuba was too weak to come up with a second excuse for why he wasn’t functioning at lunch. Yugi was good at pulling him out of his everyday depression, but he never failed to fall back into it. He was like a man drowning in an ocean of his own sadness. The tide always dragged him in even if he managed to crawl to shore.

 

“Okay.” Yugi smiled, but it was clearly forced. “I think Atem and I are going to head off though, we need to run an errand before we pick up Joey…”

 

Atem nodded and stood. “That’s indeed true. You are welcome to join us if you so choose.” From his wallet he laid a few bills on the table, seemingly intent on treating Mokuba.

 

“Yeah! Of course! You could come see Joey too if you want.” He smiled a bit more genuinely as Mokuba slid out of the booth to let him leave.

 

“Thanks guys, but I should head back to work after this.” He smiled and rubbed his neck. “Thanks for the food too… and sorry I wasn’t the best company.”

 

“What! Don’t say that, we were so glad to see you.” Yugi huffed and smiled. He then leaned forward and whispered to Mokuba. “If you want to talk, you can call me.” His voice was completely serious.

 

“...Thanks.” Mokuba nodded again and watched as Yugi left his side and took Atem’s hand. He knew he wouldn’t be calling Yugi. He wouldn’t be able to talk about his real problems, so what was the point? He did appreciate the gesture though. Yugi was a really good friend even if he didn’t deserve one.

 

“No problem!” Yugi tugged Atem along. “We’ll see you later!”

 

“Goodbye.” Atem smiled and waved, and in a flash they were gone.

 

Mokuba stared into his half-empty coffee cup and wondered if today being the opposite of productive would get him yelled at again. That, and if Joey would be a better choice to talk if he ever wanted to. In the end he spent another hour at the cafe before taking off and wasting the rest of his day on useless tasks.

 

By the time he got back to his bedroom the sky was dark and he wasted no time, he simply went to sleep. “Tomorrow for sure” was the last thing he thought as he passed out, though he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read, contact me if you have interest in being a beta-reader. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
